books

[lizardstowe]

Is there a current quality publication that really goes into a lot of detail about the different dart frogs. I've got all the "nut shell" information I can stand. I would like to know more about the areas in which they live, the nature of their toxin, so on and so forth!! Any suggestions?

[VTHokie]

The "Professional Breeders Series Poison Frogs" by Schmidt and Henkel is very good. I bought mine from Patrick at saurian.net

[slaytonp]

These same authors are coming out with another book, much larger and more expensive: Poison Frogs, Biology, Species & Captive Husbandry that promises to be the most complete so far. It's going to be about $140.00, 500 pages and was supposed to be available summer, 2005. I keep checking for availability, but so far it doesn't seem to be out yet. http://www.zoobooksales.com

[Catfur]

Nothing from Edition Chimaira ever seems to come out on time...

Dendrobatidae (the Christmann book) is supposed to be excellent, but it is muy expensivo ($250).

[slaytonp]

Can you tell us a source for Dendrobatidae? What are the contents? Any extensive "specialty" or monograph type tome is never cheap because of production costs vs the limited demand, but some just aren't worth it, or can be organized so poorly, they are lousy references.

I have a huge Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians that is organized in strict alphabetical order beginning with genus and species, so that snakes, frogs, lizards, and even feeder insects, etc. are all mixed up throughout the book rather than organized into Class and Phyllum, etc. It's almost impossible to use unless you already know the genus and specie you are looking for. It weighs about 10 pounds and cost a mint. I cannot imagine why anyone would organize an extensive reference of this sort in such an illogical, inconvenient manner, but this does occur.

[Catfur]

Both Black Jungle and Herpetologic have the books for sale (3 book set), as well as more information. I don't actually have the books.

Dendrobatidae is a collection of 20 some years worth of travels and sights. It's written pretty informally, in my opinion, and can be difficult to follow. However, it has really great observations, and many of the places he visited in Colombia have been too dangerous to go to lately. I only know of two guys who are really working there. The series is a three volume set, which has already been mentioned, with different topics for each-- E. tricolor, the D. quinquevittatus group, and D. histrionicus/sylvaticus/lehmanni. There are tons of pictures, many were new for me to see (aka not recycled pictures used in several other publications) and there were a bunch of new morphs of species for me as well. The general region is Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru-- also areas I'm working in now, so I really appreciated reading it before I left. I would recommend it overall, it's not as amazing as I made it out to be, but it's definitely worth getting and adding to any library. Better yet, get it with some friends or borrow it first if you can.
j

[slaytonp]

Thanks, Justin. I ordered Dendrobatidaelast night. I hope my offspring appreciate the fact I'm spending their inheritance on esoteric books instead of leaving them money. 8)